The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention(s). It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art, or material, to the presently described or claimed inventions, or that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of punching and kicking bags and more specifically relates to a heavy workout bag comprising sensors and a processor for detecting and wirelessly transmitting information pertaining to the quantity, magnitude, and location of the physical blows received from a user during a timed period.
2. Description of the Related Art
Punching and kicking bags serve an important function in exercise and fight training. For example, amateur and professional boxers alike utilize heavy bags for practicing their punching technique. Frequently, a workout for a boxer will include several rounds of sparring with a hanging heavy bag to improve punching ability. The heavy bag will sway in response to the force of the boxer's punches necessitating the boxer to move his feet in rhythm with the motion of the bag.
Furthermore, mixed martial artists may use punching and kicking bags in order to train for upcoming fights. Martial artists may use both their hands and their feet when striking the heavy bag. The durability and resiliency of the heavy bag provides a safe and consistent adversary to endure physical blows of the martial artist.
Boxers and martial artists may want to track the number of kicks and punches that are thrown, as well as the magnitude of force of the kicks and punches. This may be difficult to do manually because athletes may be too focused on achieving proper technique to count and memorize the magnitude and quantity. This may prevent fighters from being able to see tangible evidence of progress or declines in performance. Conventional punching and kicking bags simply provide a workout tool and fail to provide any feedback to the user. The boxer or the martial artist may wish to know how many punches and kicks have been landed in different target areas. Further, it may be desirable to know the magnitude of the force of the physical blows in order to facilitate training and to gauge improvement over a period of time. A more effective solution is needed.
Various attempts have been made to solve the above-mentioned problems such as those found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,909,749 to Sheedy, U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,336 to Gaoiran et al, U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,380 to Reinbold et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,877 to Franey, U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,079 to Luedke et al, U.S. Pat. No. 7,862,485 to Luigi, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,853 to Marciano. This prior art is representative of electronic heavy bags. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,857,729 to Sullivan et al an automated striking and blocking trainer is described. However, this trainer is complicated and includes blocking arms to simulate an opponent's blocking blows. The trainer is, therefore, to train a user to hit the bag past the blocking arms and make contact with the sensors that are mounted at or just below the outer surface of the bag. When the bag is hit all accelerometers register an impact. By measuring the recorded intensities at all the accelerometers the accelerometer showing the highest intensity is determined to be located at the point closest to the point of impact. If all the accelerometers show similar acceleration data the trainer discounts such data as being caused by sway or recoil.
Ideally, a heavy bag workout monitor system should require a heavy bag comprising a plurality of impact detection sensors, an impact detector sensor support for analyzing and relaying physical contact received by the heavy bag, and an impact processor for wirelessly communicating the data to a user interface comprising a LCD display, and, yet, would operate reliably and be manufactured at a modest expense. Thus, a need exists for a reliable heavy bag workout monitor system to receive, analyze, and track the physical blows delivered by a user and to avoid the above-mentioned problems.